


The Poems of Leto II

by Tony1769



Category: Dune - All Media Types, Dune Series - Frank Herbert
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24788884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tony1769/pseuds/Tony1769
Summary: "At times, when I revert back into myself and sink into that anguishing ocean of recollections, I find myself lost in past lives."A collection of musings from the perspective of Leto II focusing largely on his inner thoughts throughout the millennia.As of yet no rhyming poems, rather focused on poetic language as in Leto's journal entries.Evidently inspired by God Emperor of Dune.
Kudos: 1





	The Poems of Leto II

I wake up at night, at unimaginable visions,  
and a scream dies in my chest. Fingers  
tarnish what’s left of my shoulders. I toss  
from one nightmare into another until I have  
reached the final plain of horror, the present  
in all its gruesome detail.  
Oh how I plunge into suffering! A moist drop  
burning the flesh underneath my eyes.

– The God Emperor Leto II

The speed of my heartbeat matches the vivid  
pace of images running through my cognitive  
apparatus. My nostrils are stung with the  
taste of blood, iron, entrails. The fluid  
pumping through my veins feels boiled-out.  
It creates a nauseating vertigo.   
For a moment, this alone fills my entirety.

– The God Emperor Leto II

Wormflesh shaking and quaking. The gross  
hulk thumping on shattered bones. _‘I did not_  
 _want it to happen this way!’_ , I repeat in my  
mind and for a moment just, I believe myself.  
I do not feel the gory mass soaking my crypt’s  
sand floors.  
Poor Duncans, their numerous deaths are  
just specks of mine.

– The God Emperor Leto II

Children like adults, men as women,  
emperors as peasants – all of them have felt  
despair. Yet none, not a single one of my  
past lives, ever brought themselves to utter  
even a larger fraction of it. None of them have  
dared. And I dear not, for I hold the threads on  
which humanity’s continued existence suspends  
itself. For I am the Golden Path.  
And I dare not risk it for the sake of my own  
desolate soul.

– The God Emperor Leto II

My decision to undertake all of this might  
seem self-serving at first glance. But take  
just one closer look and examine the merits  
of my metamorphosis. You would not find it  
a gift I’d have bestowed upon myself. You will  
find no privilege that would not be outweighed  
manifold. I promise you; it is not a blessing.  
You might wonder then, whether I have come to  
regret my decision since. I have not. Never has a  
fragment of doubt clouded my judgement on this.  
The source of pain from my decisions lies not in  
my regret, it lies in their necessity.

– The God Emperor Leto II

At times, when I revert back into myself and sink   
into that anguishing ocean of recollections, I find   
myself lost in past lives. At times only, but oh so   
frequent in this prolonged existence of mine.

The muffled imagery, sounds and scents of my   
physical surroundings fade into nothingness   
and I begin to relive all the agonies of my   
many pasts.  
Just as I am about to drown in them, a last shimmer   
of present awareness startles my mind. A sudden   
drive befalls me and slowly I muster the strength   
to resist the tides inside of my inner self. A slow   
ascend through millennia of memories begins   
until I surface again in my own times.  
It will take a while until I have completely woken.

– The God Emperor Leto II

**Author's Note:**

> further texts might follow


End file.
